| Nowhere | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 15 October 1990 | |||
| Studio | Blackwing Studios, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 38:56 (vinyl) 52:12 (CD) | |||
| Label | Creation | |||
| Producer | Marc Waterman | |||
| Ride chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Nowhere | ||||
| ||||
Nowhere is the debut album by British shoegaze band Ride, released 15 October 1990. Rolling Stone called the album "a masterpiece", [1] and online magazine Pitchfork called it "one of shoegazing's enduring moments". [2]
Ride released three EPs, Ride , Play , and Fall , prior to the release of Nowhere. [2] Nowhere was recorded live-in-the-studio with producer Marc Waterman. [3] Waterman had a mental breakdown, which resulted in Alan Moulder mixing the recordings. [3]
The band members were between 18 and 20 during the recording of Nowhere. Mark Gardener described it as a "nighttime sort of record", and recalled the band working on the album in the studio during late-night hours and long sessions. He said feelings of isolation resulted from this work pattern. [4] [5] Gardener said “It all added to that dark, alienated feeling that I think permeated through Nowhere.” [5]
Both Bell and Gardener used the Roland GP-16 multi effects unit to create various tones on the record, including tremolo on Polar Bear and modulation on Vapour trail. According to Guitar.com the unit help to create the record's 'jangly cloud'. [5]
The album cover features an uncrested wave photographed by skateboard/snowboard photographer Warren Bolster. [6] The original LP cover artwork had the band name in embossed text centered in the upper half and an embossed album title in the lower right corner. The original cassette and CD releases featured no band name or album title on the cover, but sometimes came with an identifying sticker on the outside of the CD or cassette case. For the 2001 CD re-release, the band name and title were printed visibly on the cover in the locations of the LP's embossed text. [7] The 2011 Rhino Handmade edition features a lenticular design of the wave. [8]
Nowhere was released by Creation Records on 15 October 1990. The album was issued in the United States in December 1990 by Sire Records. [2]
A 2001 reissue by Ignition Records further added the four songs from the band's Today Forever EP as bonus tracks.
In February 2011, Rhino Handmade released a special 20th anniversary edition of Nowhere, featuring the remastered original album with seven bonus tracks, plus a bonus disc featuring a previously unreleased live performance at The Roxy in Los Angeles recorded on 10 April 1991. The set also includes a 40-page booklet with exclusive photos and a new essay by music critic Jim DeRogatis, as well as a lenticular-covered digipak book. [8] [9]
In November 2015, the band released a special 25th anniversary edition of Nowhere across two separate formats: a CD/DVD set, and a coloured-vinyl double LP. The CD features the same audio material as the 2001 and 2011 reissues remastered, with a DVD featuring a previously unreleased live performance at Town and Country Club in London on 7 March 1991. The discs come in a hardback cardboard case with canvas-style cover and a 36-page booklet. The 2LP version features an expanded track listing with 7 bonus tracks from the Fall and Today Forever EPs, and was pressed on white and blue marbled colour vinyl. The reissue was released independently. [10] In conjunction with the re-release, the band performed the album in its entirety at a series of live shows in October 2015. [11]
Nowhere was re-released in November 2022 by Wichita recordings. All the original audio reworked and refined, the reissue made available on vinyl and CD. It charted at number 62 on the UK Albums Chart.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [12] |
| The A.V. Club | A [3] |
| Chicago Tribune |  [13] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B [14] |
| Mojo | [15] |
| NME | 7/10 [16] |
| Pitchfork | 9.5/10 [2] |
| Record Mirror | 4/5 [17] |
| Select | 5/5 [18] |
| Uncut | 8/10 [19] |
Noting the "huge burden of expectation" placed on Ride's first full-length album after three acclaimed EPs, Select critic Andrew Perry deemed Nowhere a "phenomenal" debut and praised the band's "heaven-sent melodic gift" and avoidance of "formularisation". [18] Record Mirror 's Chris Sharratt called Ride "undoubtedly the present day kings of the indie guitar empire" and found that the album justified the "media hype" around the band. [17] In a more ambivalent review for NME , Simon Williams wrote that only "two-thirds of Nowhere sublimely reaffirms our faith", and that the album "fails – unluckily – to gel as a Great Album should. It doesn't challenge or thrill unexpectedly." [16]
Retrospectively, Nowhere has been acclaimed as one of the greatest albums of the shoegaze genre. [12] David Bevan of Pitchfork described Nowhere as one of shoegaze's "indisputable masterpieces", [2] and Andy Kellman of AllMusic said that the album exemplified the genre at its "most exciting and mastered", while also being "Ride's zenith". [12]
Nowhere was ranked at number 74 on Pitchfork's 2003 list of the top 100 albums of the 1990s, [20] and at number 277 on Spin 's 2015 list of "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years". [21] It is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [22] The track "Vapour Trail" was named the 145th best song of the 1990s by Pitchfork in 2010, [23] and the 81st best song of the 1990s by NME in 2012. [24]
All songs were equally credited to Ride (Andy Bell, Loz Colbert, Mark Gardener, Steve Queralt).
| No. | Title | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Seagull" | Gardener and Bell | 6:10 |
| 2. | "Kaleidoscope" | Gardener with Bell | 3:00 |
| 3. | "In a Different Place" | Gardener | 5:30 |
| 4. | "Polar Bear" | Gardener | 4:45 |
| 5. | "Dreams Burn Down" | Gardener | 6:04 |
| 6. | "Decay" (Mark Gardener) | Gardener | 3:35 |
| 7. | "Paralysed" | Bell | 5:34 |
| 8. | "Vapour Trail" | Bell | 4:18 |
| No. | Title | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9. | "Taste" (Mark Gardener) | Gardener | 3:17 |
| 10. | "Here and Now" | Bell | 4:26 |
| 11. | "Nowhere" (Loz Colbert) | Bell | 5:23 |
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Unfamiliar" | Gardener | Gardener and Bell | 5:03 |
| 13. | "Sennen" | Gardener and Bell | 4:23 | |
| 14. | "Beneath" | Gardener and Bell | 4:06 | |
| 15. | "Today" | Gardener and Bell | 6:26 |
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Polar Bear" (Live) | 5:01 | |
| 2. | "Seagull" (Live) | 5:51 | |
| 3. | "Unfamiliar" (Live) | Gardener | 4:42 |
| 4. | "Dreams Burn Down" (Live) | 5:28 | |
| 5. | "Like a Daydream" (Live) | 2:46 | |
| 6. | "Vapour Trail" (Live) | 3:36 | |
| 7. | "In a Different Place" (Live) | 5:30 | |
| 8. | "Perfect Time" (Live) | Gardener | 3:26 |
| 9. | "Taste" (Live) | Gardener | 3:27 |
| 10. | "Nowhere" (Live) | Colbert | 8:26 |
| 11. | "Chelsea Girl" (Live) | Gardener | 4:34 |
| 12. | "Drive Blind" (Live) | 6:59 |
Shoegaze is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volume. It emerged in Ireland and the United Kingdom in the late 1980s among neo-psychedelic groups who usually stood motionless during live performances in a detached, non-confrontational state. The name comes from the heavy use of effects pedals, as the performers were often looking down at their pedals during concerts.
Ride are an English rock band formed in Oxford in 1988. The band consists of vocalists and guitarists Andy Bell and Mark Gardener, drummer Laurence "Loz" Colbert and bassist Steve Queralt. They have been recognised as one of the key pioneers of shoegaze, an alternative rock subgenre that emerged to prominence in the United Kingdom during the early 1990s.
Souvlaki is the second studio album by the English rock band Slowdive. It was recorded in 1992, and released on 1 June 1993 by Creation Records.
Slowdive are a British rock band that formed in Reading, Berkshire, in 1989. The band consists of Rachel Goswell on vocals, guitar and keyboard, Neil Halstead on vocals and guitar, Christian Savill on guitar, Nick Chaplin on bass guitar and Simon Scott on drums, all of whom have played on the band's debut studio album Just for a Day (1991). Halstead is the band's primary songwriter.
It's a Shame About Ray is the fifth album by American alternative rock band the Lemonheads, released on June 2, 1992. The album was produced by the Robb Brothers. At the time of principal recording, the band consisted of Evan Dando, Juliana Hatfield and David Ryan (drums). Though not originally on the album, the band's cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" was added to the album in later pressings after it had become a major worldwide radio hit, and it features a later lineup of the band with Nic Dalton on bass.
Andrew Piran Bell is a Welsh singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and DJ. He is one of two vocalists and guitarists of the English rock band Ride, and was formerly the bassist of Oasis from 1999 until their breakup in 2009. Bell was also a member of Hurricane #1 as well as Liam Gallagher's post-Oasis project Beady Eye until their breakup in 2014.
Psychocandy is the debut studio album by Scottish rock band the Jesus and Mary Chain. It was released in November 1985 on Blanco y Negro Records. The album is considered a landmark recording: its combination of guitar feedback and noise with traditional pop melody and structure proved influential on the forthcoming shoegaze genre and alternative rock in general.
Swervedriver are an English alternative rock band formed in Oxford in 1989 around core members Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge. Between 1989 and 1998, the band released four studio albums and numerous EPs and singles despite a considerable flux of members, managers, and record labels. By 1993 the band's lineup had settled with Franklin on vocals/guitar, Hartridge on guitar, Jez Hindmarsh on drums, and Steve George on bass. They had emerged with a heavier rock sound than their shoegaze contemporaries, and over the next five years it evolved to include elements of psychedelia, classic pop, and indie rock.
Perverted by Language is the sixth studio album by English post-punk group The Fall, released in December 1983 on Rough Trade Records.
Y is the debut studio album of English post-punk band The Pop Group. The album was produced by dub musician Dennis "Blackbeard" Bovell at Ridge Farm Studios in Surrey, and was released on 20 April 1979 through Radar Records. It was reissued in 1996 by Radar, 2007 by Rhino/Radar, and in 2019 by Mute Records, including deluxe LP/12" and CD editions with bonus outtakes and live albums, to mark its 40th anniversary.
Going Blank Again is the second studio album by English rock band Ride, released on 9 March 1992 on Creation Records. It was produced by Alan Moulder, and peaked at No. 5 in the UK Albums Chart. In October 2009 the album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of over 100,000 units.
Carnival of Light is the third studio album by British rock band Ride, released in June 1994 via Creation Records. The album is named after the lost song by The Beatles of the same name. The album showcased the band's shift from shoegazing to a more traditional, folk rock sound. It was well received by some critics, magazine Select calling it "another fantastic British album in the old tradition" and reached the UK Top 5. However, by the end of 1994 even the band members had become disillusioned, referring to it amongst themselves as "Carnival of Shite", although in a 2022 interview Andy Bell stated that he had "made peace with it. It’s got a lot of good tracks, like Moonlight Medicine and Birdman".
Mark Stephen Gardener is an English rock musician, and a singer and guitarist with the shoegazing band Ride.
Whirlpool is the debut studio album by English shoegaze band Chapterhouse. It was released on 29 April 1991 by Dedicated Records.
"Vapour Trail" is a song by British shoegaze band Ride. It is the closing track of the band's debut album, Nowhere (1990), released on Creation Records, and was later released as a single in the United States in early 1991. Written by lead guitarist Andy Bell, the song features a distinctive swirling guitar riff, a strong, fill-based drum beat, and a coda that includes a string quartet.
The Comforts of Madness is the debut studio album by English alternative rock band Pale Saints. It was released on 12 February 1990 by 4AD.
"Leave Them All Behind" is a song by the British rock band Ride. It was released on 3 February 1992 as the lead single from the band's second studio album Going Blank Again, of which it is the opening track. The song's lyrics are a confident statement about Ride's musical talent relative to the rest of the shoegaze scene, which is why the band wanted to release it as the album's first single. It features both of the band's singers, Andy Bell and Mark Gardener, on lead vocals.
The discography of Swervedriver, an English alternative rock band, consists of six studio albums, one compilation album, one video album, seven extended plays, and eighteen singles. The band's back catalog of non-studio-album material rivals that which has been released in album format.
Weather Diaries is the fifth studio album by English rock band Ride. The album was released on 16 June 2017, and is the first Ride album since 1996's Tarantula. The album was produced by English DJ Erol Alkan and mixed by long-time Ride collaborator Alan Moulder.
Laurence John "Loz" Colbert is an English musician, best known as the drummer in Ride and formerly of The Animalhouse, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Supergrass and Gaz Coombes. His drumming style has been characterized as furious drawing comparisons to Keith Moon.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)Sources
